"Les Misérables (2012)" Movie Review

"Les Misérables" movie poster.

"Based on the novel by Victor Hugo, 'Les Misérables' travels with prisoner-on-parole, 24601, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman), as he runs from the ruthless Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe) on a journey beyond the barricades, at the center of the June Rebellion. Meanwhile, the life of a working class girl (Anne Hathaway) with a child is at a turning point when she turns to prostitution to pay money to the evil innkeeper and his wife (Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter) who look after her child, Cosette (Isabelle Allen). Valjean promise to take care of the child, eventually leads to a love triangle between Cosette (Amanda Seyfried), Marius (Eddie Redmayne) who is a student of the rebellion, and Eponine (Samantha Barks), a girl of the streets. The people sing of their anger and Enjolras (Aaron Tveit) leads the students to fight upon the barricades." Written by JBW (Source below.)

Anne Hathaway (being carried) and Hugh Jackman.

Directed by Tom Hooper ("The King's Speech", "John Adams" TV Mini-Series, "Elizabeth I" TV Mini-Series) and based on the original stage musical by Claude-Michel Schönberg, Alain Boubil, Jean-Marc Natel, and Herbert Kretzmer. The screenplay was written by William Nicholson ("Elizabeth: The Golden Age", "Gladiator", "First Knight") with additional text written by James Fenton.

Russell Crowe.

In the starring role is Hugh Jackman ("The Prestige", "X-Men"). He does an excellent job and I don't think he's getting enough accolades for it. Opposite him is Russell Crowe ("Gladiator", "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World"), who, though not a singer, holds his own. He wasn't terrible and I think he acted the part rather well. For the record, Javert is my favorite character out of the whole musical. Anne Hathaway ("The Devil Wears Prada", "The Dark Knight Rises") isn't in it for very long, but she is brilliant and will probably win supporting actress come Oscar time.  Though her vibrato bothered me a bit, Amanda Seyfried ("Mean Girls", "Mamma Mia") was also very good. Her character doesn't have too much depth to her so in consideration of that she did well. 

Amanda Seyfried (L)
and Eddie Redmayne.

Sacha Baron Cohen ("Hugo", "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street") and Helena Bonham Carter ("Alice in Wonderful", "The King's Speech"), even though they tried really hard to be funny, it just didn't work for me. Cohen was the only one with a French accent and it was a bad French accent. They were okay, Carter could've sung her parts louder, but her acting was good. Eddie Redmayne ("Black Death", "My Week With Marilyn") was good, but his face shook every time he sung a long note out and that was a bit distracting. Aaron Tveit ("Ghost Town", "Howl", "Premium Rush") was cute and had a great voice, but in comparison to the Enjolras I saw on Broadway (in about 2009) really got me gung-ho about the revolution. Tveit was adorable, but I didn't fall in love with him like I did the one onstage. 

Samantha Barks.

Samantha Barks ("Les Misérables in Concert: The 25th Anniversary") is basically known for being an amazing Eponine onstage so I think she suffers from the same thing that Jackman is going through right now: because everyone knows that she's a great stage actress, she's not getting the praise that is due her way. Daniel Huttlestone was wonderful as Gavroche. He has an excellent voice and was oftentimes singing rings around the other actors in the scene. And Colm Wilkinson ("The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall") was the Bishop that shows Jean Valjean some kindness and helps him to become a better man. He wasn't in it very long but he does an excellent job with his part as well.

"Les Misérables"
movie poster.

The makeup, or rather lack thereof, was brilliant. Everything was done very realistically. You saw how dirty, disgusting and sick everyone was. Also, everything seemed historically accurate which is something that can't always be shown in a musical stage production. The clothes were very good. I still don't think it's going to win "Best Picture" though. Because of the way they filmed everything, they had to keep very close to the actors. The actors were really singing while they were being filmed. This is what people actually sound like when they sing. 

Russell Crowe.

I had to watch this musical two times before I could write a review (damn people!). If you know the musical, you will notice that they cut some parts out and put some parts in. Most of it doesn't matter to the overall movie. I really liked how they humanized Javert. This wasn't something that could be done onstage. He was obviously changed by the end of the movie.

Also, Lisa Schwarzbaum: who the hell watches a movie musical when they don't even like musicals?!

I would like to read the book one day. I read an abridged version in high school some years ago, but the only part I remember is when Eponine is helping some old guy water his flowers while spouting off revolutionary, political jargon. 

Also, this review, featuring Sourcefed's Meg and Trisha:

Sources: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707386/plotsummary and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1707386/fullcredits#cast.

"Looper" Movie Review

"Looper" movie poster.

"In 2072, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent 30 years into the past, where a hired gun awaits. Someone like Joe (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by transporting back Joe's future self (Bruce Willis)." (Link below.)

Written and directed by Rian Johnson (wrote the screenplay for "Brick"), starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt ("Inception", "The Dark Knight Rises"), Bruce Willis ("Die Hard", "The Sixth Sense"), Emily Blunt ("The Young Victoria", "The Devil Wears Prada"), Paul Dano ("Cowboys & Aliens", "There Will Be Blood"), and Jeff Daniels ("Good Night and Good Luck", "Speed"). It's an interesting concept and the first time travel movie in the last few years that has nothing to do with romantic bullshit.

Also, Sourcefed's review of it convinced me to go and now, after having seen it, I agree with a lot of their observations (you can see their review below).

The makeup was very well done. They had Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis shot in profile in this one scene and they freakishly looked the same. I'm really glad they decided to make Gordon-Levitt look and act like Willis, because trying to make Willis look like Gordon-Levitt may have been impossible. But great work on their part.

One of the parts that I thought was well-done, but made me a bit squeamish, was when they got the one looper to come back by torturing his young, past self. So you could see him getting scars, losing fingers, his nose, his tongue, his feet, and basically every appendage until he gets close enough so that they can kill him. You couldn't see the actual torture, just the effects of it and that was more disturbing. 

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (driving) and Paul Dano.

But it made me think that wouldn't that effect how the rest of that particular man's life would change and therefore he wouldn't be there to be tortured? Time travel is sort of a tricky subject like that. 

I also liked how they made the future more realistic than in previous science fiction movies. There are flying vehicles, but they are not quite up to speed. It seemed very messy there, like the world wasn't 'clean', which is probable with how people treat this planet. Everyone has solar panels on their houses and even their cars. They did a lot of good work with that aspect of it.

Bruce Willis.

I just couldn't completely feel for these loopers though. There were moments where I felt sympathy but then they usually involved somebody else. When things went wrong for them it really sucked, but they were still killing people and had a pretty good time doing it: cars, women, drugs, expensive getaways. I couldn't relate to them in that way.

I enjoyed it. There was gratuitous violence involving gunfire and torture. There was telekinesis, called TK. There was an interesting drug that you would drop into your eyes to get high. There was Bruce Willis yelling "Motherfucker!" which is always a treat. Also, there are boobies. 

Favorite Lines:

Found this awesome poster here.

Joe: Time travel has not yet been invented. But thirty years from now, it will have been.

Joe: Loopers are well paid, they lead a good life...

Abe: This time travel crap, just fries your brain like a egg...

[from trailer] 

Joe: I work as a specialized assassin, in an outfit called the Loopers. When my organization from the future wants someone to die, they zap them back to me and I eliminate the target from the future. The only rule is: never let your target escape... even if your target is you.

Older Joe: I'm going to stop this guy. 

Joe: None of this concerns me... 

Older Joe: It is going to happen to you! 

Joe: It's going to happen to YOU, it's not going to happen to ME!

Abe: I'm from the future, go to China.

Sources: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1276104/quotes and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1276104/.

I give this movie 4.5 out of 5 typewriters.

"Titanic" 2012 TV Mini-Series Review

"Titanic" movie poster.

"Follows the lives of the ship's passengers, from all walks of life, as they travel on the maiden voyage of the ill-fated Titanic. From the wealthy family of the Earl of Manton, the designers of the ship, to the stokers in the engine room - who will make it onto the lifeboats?" Written by Anonymous (Link below.)

Glen Blackhall (L) and
Jenna-Louise Coleman.

Meant to appear on the anniversary of the fateful ship's sinking (it did show, I just didn't see it until now), produced by Nigel Stafford-Clark (Warriors, The Way We Live Now), written by Julian Fellowes (Gosford Park, Vanity Fair, The Young Victoria), "it sets out to paint a portrait of a whole society, telling the stories of a wide range of characters, both real and imagined, from every social level. Their narratives are developed and gradually interwoven over the first three episodes, each of which ends in a cliffhanger as the ship begins to founder. The fourth and final episode draws all of the different stories together and reveals to the audience who survives." (Link below.)

Maria Doyle Kennedy (L) and Toby Jones.

The cast was pretty amazing: Linus Roache, Geraldine Somerville, Perdita Weeks, Toby Jones, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Peter McDonald, Steven Waddington, Glen Blackhall, Antonio Magro, Jenna-Louise Coleman, Noah Reid, David Calder, Sophie Winkleman, and Dragos Bucur (who has the coolest name ever and appeared nude in a movie so expect that review soon. ;D)

Perdita Weeks -
look at that beautiful hat!

I thought the pacing was good. Each episode ended with a cliffhanger, so you had to keep watching. It was interesting how they showed certain people's perspective. Even though the cast is quite large, it felt like the ship wasn't really that big. There was so much focus on certain people that you forgot how many people were on it, so it was not as dramatic a catastrophe as I think the tragedy actually was. I did cry a lot though, so maybe it is more of a hindsight thing. They could've added more people and made it a longer series. I would've watched the whole thing, it was beautifully done.

Dragos Bucur.

The clothes were very good. I loved the hats and the dresses Perdita Weeks character, Lady Georgiana Gregs, wore. They were beautiful.

I think the person in charge of the music may have had a harder time than most trying not to sound too dramatic because it would definitely have reminded me of the James Cameron flick. Even still, they probably could've made it a bit more rousing and tense.

I can't compare this to other TV series because I don't watch TV, but I might start watching that Downton Abbey and The Borgias. The only thing I have watched to compare this to is the Cameron movie. It isn't as stirring as that movie and it had a claustrophobic feel to it, but it was still good. 

Sources: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1869152/plotsummary, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titanic_(2012_TV_miniseries), and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1869152/.

Peter McDonald.

"Shutter Island" Movie Review

"Shutter Island" movie poster.

"Federal Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his new partner Chuck Aule (Mark Ruffalo) travel to a government-run mental institution for the criminally insane on Shutter Island, near Boston, when there is a report that one of the prisoners has gone missing. Daniels has his own reasons for wanting to get to the island and carries baggage of his own. He is still traumatized from what he saw when his army unit liberated one of the Nazi concentration camps at the end of World War II and is still haunted by the more recent death in a fire of his wife. The head of the hospital, Dr. John Cawley (Ben Kingsley), treats him alright but others give the agents a less than warm reception. Daniels particularly wants to find out what is going on in one of the wards, reserved for the most serious offenders. As Daniels begins to peal away the layers of deceit, it becomes obvious that not all is as it seems." Written by garykmcd (Link below.)

Leonardo DiCaprio.

Based on the novel by Dennis Lehane and directed by Martin Scorsese, I really enjoyed this movie. (Book review found here.) I thought it was very well-done. The script was great. Someone had already told me the ending so I knew what was coming and could see the various ways the scene would look to the detective and to someone who knew what was really going on.

The ending makes me wonder though. I'm trying not to give too much away, but it seems as if he did it on purpose and he walked away with the orderlies just fine. Like he knew what was coming and was welcoming it. I can understand why he would not to live with what he knew. I don't know if I could.

Ben Kingsley.

I recommend this movie if you liked "The Machinist", "The Sixth Sense", or "Unbreakable".

I'm definitely gonna read the book now. I hope it's as good as the movie.

Script available here: http://screenplayexplorer.com/wp-content/scripts/Shutter_Island.pdf.

Favorite Lines:

[Daniels has asked the staff about Rachel's activities before her disappearance] 

Teddy Daniels: Anything unusual occur? 

Nurse Marino: Define 'unusual'. 

Teddy Daniels: Excuse me? 

Nurse Marino: This is a mental institution, Marshal. For the criminally insane. Usual isn't a big part of our day.

Leonardo DiCaprio.

Dr. John Cawley: [examines Rachel's note] Ah, this is definitely Rachel's handwriting. I have no idea... what the "Law of Four" is, though. 

Teddy Daniels: It's not a psychiatric term? 

Dr. John Cawley: No, I'm afraid not. 

Chuck Aule: [reads the note] "Who is 67?" Fucked if I know. 

Dr. John Cawley: I have to say that's quite close to my clinical conclusion.

Warden: Did you enjoy God's latest gift? 

Teddy Daniels: What? 

Warden: God's gift. Your violence. 

[Daniels looks at him blankly] 

Warden: When I came downstairs in my home, and I saw that tree in my living room, it reached out for me... a divine hand. God loves violence. 

Teddy Daniels: I... I hadn't noticed. 

Warden: Sure you have. Why else would there be so much of it? It's in us. It's what we are. We wage war, we burn sacrifices, and pillage and plunder and tear at the flesh of our brothers. And why? Because God gave us violence to wage in his honor. 

Teddy Daniels: I thought God gave us moral order. 

Warden: There's no moral order as pure as this storm. There's no moral order at all. There's just this: can my violence conquer yours?

An image from the film "Shutter Island".

Warden: If I was to sink my teeth into your eye right now, would you be able to stop me before I blinded you? 

Teddy Daniels: Give it a try. 

Warden: That's the spirit.

Dr. John Cawley: Why are you all wet, baby?

Teddy Daniels: After she tried to kill herself the first time, Dolores told me she... she had an insect living inside her brain. She could feel it clicking across her skull, just... pulling the wires, just for fun. She told me that. She told me that but I didn't listen. I loved her so much.

"Shutter Island"
book cover.

"Shutter Island"
book cover.

Teddy Daniels: So, what's our next move? 

Chuck Aule: You tell me. 

Teddy Daniels: I gotta get off this rock, Chuck. Get back to the mainland. Whatever the hell's going on here, it's bad. 

[pause] 

Teddy Daniels: [sotto voce] Don't worry, partner, they're not gonna catch us. 

Chuck Aule: That's right, we're too smart for 'em. 

Teddy Daniels: Yeah, we are, aren't we? 

[pause] 

Teddy Daniels: You know, this place makes me wonder. 

Chuck Aule: Yeah, what's that, boss? 

Teddy Daniels: Which would be worse - to live as a monster? Or to die as a good man?

[gets up and walks off]
Chuck Aule: Teddy?

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1130884/.

"Another Earth" Movie Review

"Another Earth" movie poster.

"On the night of the discovery of a duplicate planet in the solar system, an ambitious young student (Brit Marling) and an accomplished composer (William Mapother) cross paths in a tragic accident." (Link below.)

This was certainly a very interesting film. I would never have been able to come up with something like that. Another whole planet with my exact likeness on it, perhaps with a completely different life than mine.... almost too much for me to understand. Very exciting that Brit Marling, who starred in it and did a great job, also cowrote it with the director, Mike Cahill.

I thought it was beautifully filmed and the music was wonderful. There is even a scene where an actor plays a saw (the kind you use to cut wood) like an instrument which I have never seen before nor heard before.

I would've liked to have seen more science geek stuff like tides and gravity effected by the proximity of the earth being so close to another earth but that wasn't really the story here and I can understand why they would want to skip that.

"Another Earth" movie poster featuring Brit Marling.

I don't want to talk about the ending except to say that it is bittersweet and surprising. I very much enjoyed watching this film and hope there is more like it.

Favorite Lines:

Richard Berendzen: In the grand history of the cosmos, more than thirteen thousand million years old, our Earth is replicated elsewhere. But maybe there is another way of seeing this world. If any small variation arises-they look this way, you look that way-suddenly maybe everything changes and now you begin to wonder, what else is different? Well, one might say that you have an exact mirror image that is suddenly shattered and there's a new reality. And therein lies the opportunity and the mystery. What else? What new? What now?

Rhoda Williams: When early explorers first set out West across the Atlantic, most people thought the world was flat. Most people thought if you sailed far enough West, you would drop off a plane into nothing. Those vessels sailing out into the unknown, they weren't carrying noblemen or aristocrats, artists or merchants. They were crewed by people living on the edge of life: the madmen, orphans, ex-convicts, outcasts like myself. As a felon, I'm an unlikely candidate for most things. But perhaps not for this. Perhaps I am the most likely.

Beautiful image from the movie "Another Earth".

Rhoda Williams: You know that story of the Russian cosmonaut? So, the cosmonaut, He's the first man ever to go into space. Right? The Russians beat the Americans. So he goes up in this big spaceship, but the only habitable part of it's very small. So the cosmonaut's in there, and he's got this portal window, and he's looking out of it, and he sees the curvature of the Earth for the first time. I mean, the first man to ever look at the planet he's from. And he's lost in that moment. And all of a sudden this strange ticking... Begins coming out of the dashboard. Rips out the control panel, right? Takes out his tools. Trying to find the sound, trying to stop the sound. But he can't find it. He can't stop it. It keeps going. Few hours into this, begins to feel like torture. A few days go by with this sound, and he knows that this small sound... will break him. He'll lose his mind. What's he gonna do? He's up in space, alone, in a space closet. He's got 25 days left to go... with this sound. So the cosmonaut decides... the only way to save his sanity... is to fall in love with this sound. So he closes his eyes... and he goes into his imagination, and then he opens them. He doesn't hear ticking anymore. He hears music. And he spends the rest of the voyage sailing through space in total bliss... and peace.

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1549572/.

"Albert Nobbs" Movie Review

"Albert Nobbs" movie poster.

Glenn Close as Albert Nobbs.

"In 19th century Dublin, Albert Nobbs (Glenn Close), an eccentric man in the latter part of middle age, works as a waiter in Morrison's Hotel run by the stingy and controlling Marge Baker (Pauline Collins). Albert is hard working and saves his money so that one day he will be able to eke out a better life for himself by owning his own business rather than work at the hotel. Beyond his work colleagues, he is all alone in the world. One day, a man named Hubert Page (Maria Doyle Kennedy) is hired by Mrs. Baker to paint one of the rooms in the hotel. She forces Hubert to share Albert's bed for the one night he is required to stay to complete the work, much to Albert's horror. Hubert discovers the reason Albert did not want to share a room with him. But rather than the issue being a problem, Hubert shows Albert that he can follow a slightly different life path than the one he envisioned for himself - one closer to the life that Hubert leads with his wife Cathleen (Bronagh Gallagher) - which includes getting married and having a wife to support him emotionally. Albert's choice as a bride is his younger flirtatious co-worker Helen Dawes (Mia Wasikowska), who, unknown to Albert, is already in a sexual relationship with the brusque and sly Joe Mackins (Aaron Johnson), another co-worker recently arrived to Morrison's. As Albert, Helen and Joe play their respective games of courtship, Albert may find that what seemed to come naturally to Hubert may be more difficult for him." (Link below.)

"Albert Nobbs"
movie poster.

This film has quite a cast! Even Jonathan Rhys Meyers shows up for two minutes. I was delighted when I saw Mr. Weasley, I mean, Mark Williams and Mad-Eye Moody, I mean, Brandon Gleeson. (I'm a Harry Potter freak.....)

I also had no idea that Glenn Close was one of the main screenwriters for this movie. I totally thought she deserved the Oscar nomination for her role in this. She was very convincing as a man. If I had not already known about that before watching the movie, I think I would've been very surprised. 

Maria Doyle Kennedy
as Hubert Page.

I thought the story was compelling, I mean I certainly felt for the character, especially with times like the ones in which we are living where work is hard to find and the pay is not that great. The costumes were great and, in particular, the makeup was astounding. It was a very good film. It was bit quiet but the drama was huge. Not only was this based on a short story by George Moore, it was more or less based on actual happenings involving real women hiding their identities so they could get a job and live. I'd love to read the short story one of these days.

I give this movie 4.5 stars.

Script available here: http://albertnobbs-themovie.com/AlbertNobbs.pdf.

Mia Wasikowska (L) and Glenn Close.

Favorite Lines:

Dr. Holloran: Why aren't you in fancy dress? 

Albert Nobbs: I'm a waiter. 

Dr. Holloran: Well I'm a doctor. We are both disguised as ourselves.

Helen: You are the strangest man I have ever met.

Dr. Holloran: Dear Jesus, I don't know what makes people live such miserable lives.

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1602098/synopsis.

"J. Edgar" Movie Review

"J. Edgar" movie poster.

"Biopic of J. Edgar Hoover told by Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he recalls his career for a biography. Early in his career, Hoover fixated on Communists, anarchists and any other revolutionary taking action against the U.S. government. He slowly builds the agency's reputation, becoming the sole arbiter of who gets hired and fired. One of his hires is Clyde Tolson (Armie Hammer) who is quickly promoted to Assistant Director and would be Hoover's confidant and companion for the rest of Hoover's life. Hoover's memories have him playing a greater role in the many high profile cases the FBI was involved in - the Lindbergh baby kidnapping, the arrest of bank robbers like John Dillinger - and also show him to be quite adept at manipulating the various politicians he's worked with over his career, thanks in large part to his secret files." Written by garykmcd (Link below.)

Leonardo DiCaprio (L)
and Judi Dench.

A long-ish movie (2 hours and 17 minutes), it stars the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Armie Hammer,Naomi Watts, and Judi Dench. And directed byClint Eastwood; screenplay written by Dustin Lance Black (also wrote the script to the Sean Penn flick "Milk"). 

I thought it a bit strange for Mr. DiCaprio to be in this film. He's no stranger to gay relationships (and now no longer immune to a bit of cross-dressing) and he loves biographical stories featuring odd people, but he's very handsome and the real J. Edgar Hoover looked like a flesh-colored beach ball. (Assume that I prefer to look at the DiCaprio version.) And also, it surprised me how deep Mr. Hammer's voice was. I haven't seen "The Social Network" yet, so I didn't know he sounded like that. He's also very attractive. A nice surprise. However, the acting was excellent. I believed that he was an old man during some parts in the film.and that the special effects people somehow CGI-ed DiCaprio's acting skills onto the old actor's face.

Leonardo DiCaprio (L)
and Naomi Watts.

A wise man once said, "Absolute power, corrupts absolutely." While I don't think of Mr. J. Edgar Hoover as a bad person or an evil one, I certainly am glad that I cannot get on his bad side. Avery interesting man with a ton of issues in every way possible, but also one that was very driven and strong.

I found the story entertaining and very intriguing - I would like to read a book about Hoover now - but I found the movie a bit long. That's about my only criticism. I found Tolson's and Hoover's relationship compelling and sad. I also realized through watching this movie that I don't usually see older people in films. And how sad their lives are. And then also realizing that that is probably why they don't make good film fodder.

Leonardo DiCaprio as
"Older" J. Edgar Hoover.

I absolutely loved all of the hats and costumes in this film! And I was so impressed with the make-up effects that I looked through the credits for the person in charge of doing it and I was going to put his name in this blog entry.... But there were too many to name and I'm somewhat lazy about a few things like this. 

I give this film a 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Favorite Lines:

J. Edgar Hoover: Find Agent Purvis. He is to be demoted or, better yet, fired.

J. Edgar Hoover: What's important at this time is to re-clarify the difference between hero and villain. 

Albert Osborne: Is that all Mr. Hoover? I have a 2:30 class to teach. 

J. Edgar Hoover: No, you don't. Consider your pay doubled; you now work for your country. Congratulations, Dr. Osborne.

Annie Hoover: I would rather have a dead son than a daffodil for a son.

Annie Hoover: Is it a date? 

J. Edgar Hoover: I think so, I think so. I'm going to show her my old card catalog system at the Library of Congress.

Armie Hammer as
Clyde Tolson.

Annie Hoover: Romance, son.

Congressman: But your agency is already one of the most well-funded in Washington, is it not? 

J. Edgar Hoover: Yes, that is true sir, but our car and bank robbery recoveries totaled 6.5 million last year, and our budget is only, well, 2 million. Unlike other departments in Washington, we actually run a profit. 

J. Edgar Hoover: It's easy to be the expert if you're the only person in the world with any interest. 

Clyde Tolson: He does also claim he can tell as much from a cut of wood as a doctor can from an autopsy. 

J. Edgar Hoover: Ah. 

Clyde Tolson: He has, um, social difficulties. 

J. Edgar Hoover: He is mentally ill, isn't he? 

Clyde Tolson: He's only as mad as you are - sir. 

Helen Gandy: The Bureau is stronger than just you and me now. Your child is sure and keeps the country safe.

Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1616195/.

"The Woman in Black" Movie Review

"The Woman in Black" movie poster.

"In London, lawyer Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) still grieves the death of his beloved wife Stella (Sophie Stuckey) on the delivery of their son Joseph (Misha Handley) four years ago. His employer gives him a last chance to keep his job, and he is assigned to travel to the remote village of Cryphin Gifford to examine the documentation of the Eel Marsh House that belonged to the recently deceased Mrs. Drablow. Arthur befriends Daily (Ciaran Hinds) on the train and the man offers a ride to him to the Gifford Arms inn. Arthur has a cold reception and the owner of the inn tells that he did not receive the request of reservation and there is no available room. The next morning, Arthur meets solicitor Mr. Jerome (Tim McCullan) who advises him to return to London. However, Arthur goes to the isolated manor and soon he finds that Eel Marsh House is haunted by the vengeful ghost of a woman (Liz White) dressed in black. He also learns that the woman lost her son (Ashley Foster) drowned in the marsh and she seeks revenge, taking the children of the scared locals." Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Link below.)

Daniel Radcliffe.

I really liked it actually! I heard it wasn't getting good reviews, but I don't know what those people expected. It was a good horror movie! It wasn't filled with gore and faux-blood spillage everywhere, but it was scary and perfect to bring girlfriends (but prepare for high pitched shrieks)! 

I brought my brother along and he thought it was very scary! And he's a horror movie buff! Just for the record, my brother wasn't cowering in a corner, he meant 'scary' as in 'well-done' for a horror movie. That being said, none of the scares were new ones, but they were very effectively used and that's better than most horror movies and movies in general.

Daniel Radcliffe.

The acting was great, also stars Janet McTeer as Mrs. Daily; the cinematography was great, it was both beautiful and desolate on Isle Marsh; the spooks weren't original but well-done. The clothes were amazing. Daniel Radcliffe should wear something like this all of the time and he will never have to worry about going home alone ever again.

Overall, I enjoyed myself, I feel as if my hard-earned cash was spent properly, and I would definitely subject myself to this movie again!

I'm going to read the book one of these days and I'll compare the movie to it at a later time. (Book review here.)

Favorite Lines:

Daniel Radcliffe.

Jennet: I will never forgive.

Daily: I believe the most rational mind can play tricks in the dark.
Daily: Don't go chasing shadows, Arthur.

Joseph Kipps: Who is that Lady?
Arthur Kipps: That's your mother.

Sources: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596365/plotsummary and http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1596365/quotes.

http://www.womaninblack.com/#/trailer